During the long debate on the use of torture to extract information from prisoners, serious intelligence professionals have argued that torture provides unreliable information, as demonstrated numerous times at Guantanamo, most recently in the Binyam Mohamed case. With the incentive of staving off bodily harm, prisoners have been willing to simply say what their captors have wanted to hear.

These days the media interest in political Islam, driven by the fear of politically motivated violence, is so strong that Muslims marginally involved with Islamist movements must be at least somewhat tempted to sell embellished stories to a cash-laden media on their way out. Britain's Ed Husain and America's Daveed Gartenstein-Ross both wrote notable books outlining their adventures with radical Islam, albeit not without some controversy. Yet both insisted their experiences and activities were genuine, and their opinions valid.

But for Hassan Butt, former spokesman for the (now defunct) extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, the truth of his radicalisation fell a little short. Once interviewed by CBS's 60 Minutes on his return from the dark side, Butt claimed to have sent up to 200 British Muslims to terrorist training camps in Pakistan, met with 7/7 mastermind Mohammad Sidique Khan and participated in the 2002 attack on the US Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, which killed 12 people.

But speaking in December at a trial of another terrorist suspect in Britain, Butt admitted that he made the whole thing up, going as far as cutting himself with a knife to claim attacks against him by Muslim extremists. "If I wasn't going to cash up on it, someone else was going to cash up on it," Butt told the court after spending the last few years consulting with the British government and media as a counter-terrorism expert, telling them what they "wanted to hear." Sound familiar? Whether coerced by pain or money, people will always say what needs to be said for their own benefit.

Butt was arrested four times by police between 2002 and 2008 after making his claims yet was released each time without charge - all while consulting British government officials on countering radicalisation. This should have been a clue to someone that something wasn't right. Butt was by no means a minor player in al-Muhajiroun - he held enough sway to be accepted as a spokesman for the group - but his admission casts serious doubt over the threat the group posed to Britain as a path to real homegrown violence, and exposes the gullibility of reporters who considered them to be a serious threat. If the 200 British Muslims in Pakistani camps don't exist, then that phenomenon (which certainly did exist for the 7/7 bombers) becomes much more of an anomaly. The inner world of jihadism is a seductive one - for proponents and opponents. But like a lot of similar phenomenon, the secrecy creates its own opportunities beyond religion and politics.

The media's part to play in this cannot be understated. While a slew of tabloid (and not so tabloid) media rushed to report on Butt's alleged change of heart years ago, only four newspapers (three British, one Pakistani) and a Reuters news feed have reported the story since it broke on February 9. One of the British newspapers even headlined its report "Taxi driver coaxed into becoming al Qaida spy," burying the news about Butt charade in a story that focused instead on a friend's conviction for collaborating in an al Qaeda plot.

While testifying on behalf of his friend Habib Ahmed, Butt revealed his fraudulent past, as well as a plot by the two to sell stories to the media on behalf of al Muhajiroun (one of whose goals was to "create as much controversy and to create as much profile through the media as possible") and peddle, for £100,000, a behind-the-scenes documentary explaining why young British Muslims ended up in Pakistani terror camps. Whether inside the movement or outside it, Butt's motivation in the end was nothing more than financial.

In the end - despite the now plausible scenario of hoodwinking the media instead of actually planning terror - Ahmed was sentenced to ten years in prison, and Mr. Butt doomed his money-making future with his testimony. More importantly, the alarm raised by Butt's statements over the years have resulted in deep suspicion - often without evidence of any sort - of terrorist activity among Britain's Muslims. Where such activity can be proven by good intelligence and factual evidence, it should be prosecuted fully. Unfortunately, Butt's escape-from-extremism story pushed anti-terrorism efforts into the realm of paranoia and clumsiness. The talented Mr. Butt got years of attention from the media, the government, and police. In the process, he also distracted them from the investigations needed to properly protect the public from future terrorist attacks.

In this narcissistic consumer culture, it's a wonder there aren't more saddos rushing to cash in on bogus claims about involvement in extremist organisations. But having said that, what's the difference, morally speaking, between out-and-out fibbing and framing your story in a way that aligns you with a powerful anti-Muslim elite?

I hardly think Husain's or Garstein-Ross's opinions were "valid."

>But having said that, what's the difference, morally speaking, between out-and-out fibbing and framing your story in a way that aligns you with a powerful anti-Muslim elite?<

The entire industry of "ex-extremists" and "ex-Muslims" is composed of liars, charlatans and political prostitutes aligning with the powerful for fame and fortune. Waleed Shoebat and Ayaan Hirsi Magan to name a few shabbos goyim...

Political Islam is the new bogeyman. The Red Scare. Booooo! The Russians are coming. Now, the Muslims are Coming. Booooo!

Multi-Billion Dollar Business. Then there are the rogue regimes and the threat of a covert nuclear device getting smuggled into the USA. Boooo! Terrorists among our Midsts. Booooo!

Satellites that can track odour coming right out of Osama's arse, but helpless against a bunch of donkey-brained Arabs hijacking entire Jumbo Jets and crashing right into Manhattan.

Hey Greybeard,
Haven't you heard? According to judeofascist mascot Steve Emerson, Muslim were responsible for the fires in Australia. Turned out to be a white guy. Brought to you by the same skunk who said the Oklahoma bombing was done by Muslims.
Notice the usual suspects don't seem as eager to leave their BS commentary on this one...

Hey DrM. Lately i ve been on Youtube. And I tell you, there are these virulently anti-islamic trolls all over the place like mosquitoes. They all seem to be young immature types as they have no sense on how to talk without cursing every third sentence. Have some sort of infidel taskforce, all christians from what i can tell. some of these clowns have the whole bukhari muslim memorized. will quote you verbatum hadith on the spot in a flash.

absolutely disgusting the way they treat the prophet. in the most profane language imaginable. Jeez. hate just drips from their brows. i cant imagine someone insulting another human being like this. phew. islam-violence-muhammad-aisha. thats all they talk about. period. ask them anything good they know about islam. "no, cause there isnt any".

makes me think these young people, muslim or non-muslim, have some kind of hate gene that if properly fingered can make them turn into a cult in a flash. are going around flashing some statistic that muslims have killed 270 million people since islam came to this world!!! ok. only problem is most of these deaths are pre 1,700 with the decline of the muslims and arrival of colonialism. i am thinking 250 million killed in 1,000 years before 1700 when world population was 600 million. 200 million in year 700. So put it in a spreadsheet and muslims killed 1 / 35 people between 700 - 1700. Hmmm.

virulently hate islam i tell ya.

>>> If the 200 British Muslims in Pakistani camps don't exist, then that phenomenon (which certainly did exist for the 7/7 bombers) becomes much more of an anomaly.
>>> Unfortunately, Butt's escape-from-extremism story pushed anti-terrorism efforts into the realm of paranoia and clumsiness.

It also pushed other Muslim people into funding or espousing terrorism thinking there were correct ideological underpinnings for that type of response, if 200 (albeit imaginary) brothers went over.


>>> And I tell you, there are these virulently anti-islamic trolls all over the place like mosquitoes...immature types as they have no sense on how to talk without cursing every third sentence.
>>So put it in a spreadsheet and muslims killed 1 / 35 people between 700 - 1700. Hmmm

Oh sweet irony. and killing 1/35th of the worlds people is such a minor infringement. You consider your manners a reasonable way to discuss things with impressionable and emotional children in online forums? To top it all off you want to do that in defence of Islam and Muslims?